flDtss  Susie  X.  IRawson. 


I  can  not  give  Miss  Rawson’s  birth-place,  ex¬ 
cept  that  it  was  in  Ohio.  Her  childhood  years 
were  spent  in  this  State  and  Pennsylvania. 
When  but  a  child  her  family  moved  to  Akron, 
Ohio,  where  several  years  of  her  life  were  spent. 
The  family  were  members  of  theM.  E.  Church, 
and  it  was  here  that  Miss  Susie  first  heard  C. 
H.  Yatman,  the  great  M.  E.  revivalist,  a  man 
especially  interested  in  missions.  When  Mr. 
Yatman  held  revival  services  in  Cleveland,  in 
the  fall  of  1898,  Miss  Rawson  went  to  hear  him 
and  to  tell  him  that  “the  hope  begotten  under 
his  preaching  in  the  year  1890  was  about  to  be 
realized,  and  that  she  was  at  last  really  going 
to  the  foreign  field”  With  this  object  in  view, 
she  entered  Hiram  College  in  the  spring  of  1893, 
having  previously  connected  herself  with  the 
Second  Christian  church  in  Akron,  In  the  fall 
of  1893  Miss  Graybiel  became  Lady  Principal  of 
the  college  for  one  year,  and  who  shall  say  that 
that  one  year’s  companionship  between  teacher 
and  pupil  may  not  have  turned  her  thoughts 
toward  India  as  a  possible  field  for  service? 

The  succeeding  five  years  were  years  of  hero¬ 
ic  preparation;  aided  by  a  member  of  her  home 
church  who  thoroughly  believed  in  her,  Miss 
Rawson  labored  untiringly,  in  term  time  and 
in  vacation,  to  make  her  way  through  college. 
Vacations  were  given  to  labor,  and  when,  in 
June,  1898,  she  closed  her  study  in  the  college, 
she  was  much  exhausted.  She  was  needed  in 
Mahoba  even  then,  but  Miss  Graybiel  said; 


“The  Dew  teacher  must  have  some  knowledge 
of  kindergarten  work.”  It  was  made  possible 
for  her  to  spend  her  last  year  of  preparation  in 
Cleveland,  where  she  took  certain  studies  in 
the  kindergarten  college  and  carried  on  her 
music,  which  is  so  helpful  to  mission  work 
everywhere.  Her  practice  in  Hiram  House 
Kindergarten  was  of  great  value  to  her,  and 
her  year  in  Cleveland  greatly  perfected  her  for 
service.  She  sailed  from  New  York  on  October 
21,  1899,  a  well-equipped  teacher,  ready  to  re¬ 
lieve  the  weary  workers  in  Mahoba,  and  very 
happy  to  be  about  her  “Master’s  business.” 
From  a  letter  written  by  her  from  Bombay, 
December  8,  I  quote  these  words:  “My  happi¬ 
ness  is  great  because  my  feet  at  last  are  firmly 
ifianted  on  the  soil  of  India,  the  land  of  my 
adoption,  My  heart  goes  out  to  this  land  as  it 
never  went  out  to  the  home  land,  and  I  have  a 
feeling  that  I  am  at  home  as  I  have  never  been 
before.”  Miss  Graybiel,  in  a  letter  from  Maho¬ 
ba,  dated  December  14,  says:  “I  want  to  say 
to  you  that  Susie  meets  every  hope  I  have  had 
in  her.  She  fits  into  her  place  among  us  to  a 
nicety.  You  shall  have  joy  in  her,  I  am  as¬ 
sured,  and  in  her  work,  as  the  years  go  by.” 
If  the  worker  and  the  work  fit  each  other,  what 
more  can  be  desired?  Mrs.  H.  Gerould. 

Cleveland ,  Ohio. 


Published  by  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of  Mis¬ 
sions,  152  E.  Market  St.,  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  June,  1899. 
One  cent  each,  ten  cents  per  dozen. 


